MY GIANT DRAGON GOBY......for sale?

[OceanMaiden]

Hello all,
I may have to sell my violet goby. He is robust, healthy, and almost 9 inches long! How much could I sell him for? What would be the most I can sell him for that would be considered a fair price. I don't want to rip people off, but I don't want to rip myself off either. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks everyone

[Mudfrog]

Well 9" is still a baby for a Violet Goby. Mine is currently 11.5" and still growing. To give you an idea though there is an importer selling 18" - 22" Violet Gobies for $35 each so I would say you could ask maybe $10-12, that would be a fair price.

[OceanMaiden]

Thanks mudfrog.

I guess I'd better keep him then. How did you get yours to grow soooo big. What are you feeding him??? LOL I want mine to grow bigger too! I got mine this February for like $12.00 and he was 5 inches and now he is 8 1/2 inches. So what temp do you keep your gobies tank at and what tank mates do you have with him. Whats the setup? I want to imitate your setup so mine will get big n fat. LOL Hopefully I will continue to have luck with raising my goby, because I cant seem to keep my goldies. I found a bug in the biopad of my filter. It had turned the pad black with yuck and polluted my water pretty good for me, THE CREEP!!! Anyway I cleaned that out but still lost 2 goldfish. So my dragon goby is the oldest fish I have aside from the betta. I guess I don't really want to sell him I just got scared after having a problem in the other tank that I'd wind up with the same problem and maybe the goby would get sick and die next. Thanks for listening to me vent. Well please if you can give me lots of advice on the goby and what meds you use if he ever gets sick so I know what to do. Thank you so much mudfrog. :*

[Mudfrog]

First thing first, Dragon Gobies are Brackish water fish, some people have had success in FW but it's maybe 1 out of 1,000. No, I don't consider one year a success .

I keep mine in Brackish Water at a SG of 1.010 and it shares a 55 gallon tank with a clay goby, see my gallery for pics.

95% of the time it gets Wardley Shrimp Pellets as these break up in the water allowing it to eat more and quicker. The other 5% of the time it gets either an algae waefer or frozen raw shrimp that has been cut up into very fine pieces. They also eat blood worms but I'm allergic to those so it's not an option for me.

I've had this one for about 2 years now. They are slow growers, keep feeding it and keep the water clean and it will grow bigger for you.

BTW.. the largest VG in captivity was recorded at 27" long and 5-6 years old. This will give you an idea of how large they can grow.

Any other questions feel free to ask.

[OceanMaiden]

WOW, so ours are definitely still babies then. My goby has been in fresh water all his life thus far. I made sure of that when I bought him so I'd put him into the same setup he was in and not shock him. The petstore was keeping him in freshwater so thats what I put him in. Also I forget where I read it but it said that the violet goby goes further up streams and inlets to have their young. Then the young as its growing slowly makes its way downstream until it is very close to the ocean. So it starts out freshwater when its growing and starts slowly transitioning to brackish and sometimes even marine conditions the closer it gets to the ocean. Then it lives down there for the rest of its life. Of course except when it goes to mate, it is able to stand going all the way back up to freshwater again to lay its eggs, and then go right back to marine where it was. It was a neat article I wish I could find it again. It had nice pictures of the gobies and everything. So I need to slowly start mine transitioning to brackishwater then. I guess I'll be off to get some marine salt and a hygrometer? I think its called to measure salinity with. What would you recommend in the salt dosing. What do I raise the salinity by to get it slowly up to 1.010 safely without stunning the goby? Over how long a period of time should I stretch it? Thanks for all your help mudfrog. You are making me feel more sure of my gobies survival.

[Mudfrog]

I'd shoot for an increase of .002 every two weeks untill you get it to around 1.008 - 1.010.

They do go upstream to spawn but I'm not sure as to how long the juvies live in FW before they actually head to BW. I would imagine not very long.

Here is a link to a really good article on dragon gobies.. The 4 pics with a sand substrate are of my VG's.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume...n%20Gobies.htm

[hc8719]

im sure i just read it wrong, but it sounds like you bought the goby just to sell it?

[OceanMaiden]

No I didn't buy it just to sell it, it was bought for my son. I was just frightened that something would happen to it next after what happened to my 2 goldfish. A bug ruined their biopad and made the water horrible which killed them. Much medicine and cleaning later I have one ryukin goldfish left. So after all that I was just freaking out and worried that it would be the goby having problems next. I was having a kind of "FISH" nervous breakdown you could say. I was going to surprise my son with a different pet instead so that was why I wanted to know the price. Now that I have calmed down I've decided not to give up on the goby. I guess he's not that complicated to take care of after all. Now that I have mudfrog to help me, I'm sure he'll be allright. Mudfrog, can I put bumble bee gobies and mollies in with the dragon? They are brackish too right? Is the salt going to whack my live plants? I have fake ones in there too I'm sure those will be fine, LOL. If it will I can put them in my snail, clam....Invertabrate tank I'll leave it up to you to suggest salt hardy plants, (besides plastic ones I mean :P). Thank you Mudfrog!!

[Mudfrog]

Yes you can put bumble bee gobies and mollies in with the dragon goby. I house mine with a clay goby. You can see pics of it in my gallery.

As far as plants there really aren't many plants that grow well in brackish water. Well at least I've never had much luck but that probably has more to do with poor lighting on my behalf. I know Java Fern will "usually" grow in Brackish, so will Mangroves. I plan on adding both of those to a refugium when I eventually build one to help with the nitrates. Plastic plants are definitely the way to go though.

Take a look at this link for a few more suggestions..

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishS...bracplants.htm



BTW.. I forgot to ask what size tank he's in?